Exile
by sueKay-04
Summary: Three years after 'Enemy at the Gate' the team find themselves back together again and battling enemies old and new. But with many of the relationships that held them all together on Atlantis now fractured and broken, do they still have what it takes to save Earth? Warning for references to a regular character's death in coming chapters.
1. Out With the Old

Hello all!

Well this fic has been baking inside my noggin and resting inside my computer for quite some time, but I thought I'd be better actually posting it!

This story is definitely one that's moving me out of my comfort zone, but it won't leave my brain alone! It's a post-series story and my take on what happened after 'Enemy at the Gate'. Old relationships have been tested, others have fallen apart, and old alliances might not be all that they seem. The SGA Team - and Earth - are in for a bit of a shock in this one.

I hope you enjoy, and many many MANY thanks to the fantabulous **The Mind of the Dragon** for her support and advice!

**Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada**

**September 1****st**** 2012, 5.30pm**

"Come on Maddie, we've walked far enough!" Jeannie shouted after her daughter.

"Just a little further mom!" the ten year-old responded, jogging on ahead.

"Just…stay in sight Mads," Kaleb told her, and watched as his daughter's jog slowed to a quick walk.

Rodney chuckled at his niece's antics. At ten years of age she'd become both independent and spirited, and very much like her mother was at that age.

"She thinks we're going to the park," he heard Jeannie say to Kaleb.

"Well we're not," Kaleb responded, "I need to eat! I skipped lunch and we've walked for miles!"

As his sister and brother-in-law turned their conversation to the subject of which Vegan restaurant to head to, Rodney decided to leave them to it, walking on a bit further, his new DSLR camera in hand. He could see his niece several yards ahead, leaning her head over the railing separating the road from English Bay Beach. It was a beautiful afternoon in Vancouver and Rodney walked over to near where his niece was, taking pictures of the bay as he went.

"Uncle Mer!" Maddie said loudly, "Take one of me!"

"Okay Little One," he smiled at her, before instructing her to stand by the railings.

Maddie obliged, posing for Rodney before sticking her tongue out. Rodney quickly took a snap as she started giggling.

"I'll be serious this time," she grinned, mischief in her eyes as he took a second photo.

"Thank you Maddie," he smiled at her, "Now we'll wait for your Mom and Dad and then I can get one of you with the twins!"

Maddie's face lit up, "And then we can go to Stanley Park!"

"Not today Mads," Kaleb said as he and Jeannie caught up with the stroller, "It's too late and we're all hungry."

Maddie's shoulders slumped, but after thinking it over for a few seconds she relented, "Well I am a little hungry, so can we go tomorrow?"

Jeannie chuckled, "Okay okay…we'll go tomorrow."

A rustle of material and a noise from the stroller caught their attention.

"Oh, Ewan's awake," Jeannie announced reaching into the stroller as the two year old gave his family a sleepy smile.

**Tokyo, Japan**

**September 2****st**** 2012, 8.30am**

"What time are you scheduled for?" Dr. Miko Kusanagi asked Radek.

"Oh eh, um…Two thirty," he responded.

"That is a very good time to present at," Miko smiled, "I will be presenting tomorrow at noon."

"Isn't that when Kavanagh is presenting?"

"No, he got moved to 1pm, and is not happy about it."

Radek and Miko were enjoying a breakfast of Miso soup and white rice at a small hotel a ten minute walk from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, where they were both due to present papers at an academic conference. Weeks earlier the two had noticed each other's names on the conference schedule and had arranged to meet that morning, prior to the start of the conference.

"Have you been to Japan before?"

"No, never, actually. I have been meaning to ever since Dr. Beckett moved to Sendai."

"He's in Sendai?" Miko looked confused, "I thought he was in Sudan with Doctors Without Borders."

"Oh, he was, for a while at least, until the Tsunami happened and he flew out here and ended up staying."

"I wish he had come here under better circumstances," Miko said sadly, "but a lot of the aid workers that came to help have ended up staying."

"You know Carson, he needs to be helping people, and he made a lot of friends here. After what happened at SGC, I think he finally found what he was looking for...He's actually going to be meeting me at Tokyo Tech at 9, if you'd like to join us?"

"I would love that," Miko smiled.

**Atlantis, San Francisco Bay, California, USA**

**September 1****st**** 2012, 5.30pm**

Chuck sniggered at his computer, "You've gotta be kidding me Lorne, no way."

_"Yes way!"_

"I am not teaming up with Mitchell! Not a chance."

_"Do you want to beat Grakarnok or not?"_

"Sure I do, but I don't need Cameron Mitchell to help me!"

_"But he's already got like ten people helping him, and we need to stop the Klingons!"_

"I'll think about it, okay?"

_"You really suck at this game," _Lorne chided.

Chuck reclined in his seat, smirking at his friend through his web cam.

_"How's things where you are?" _Lorne asked, changing the subject.

"Oh, same old, same old."

Chuck let his eyes wander round Atlantis' control room, from one lifeless control panel to the other before finally settling on the Stargate, which was covered by a large tarpaulin.

He looked back to his computer, noting the grimace on Lorne's face.

"How's the SGC?" Chuck asked.

"_Oh, same old, same old," Lorne chuckled, "We've not been offworld in a couple of weeks as all the scientists are working on yet another plan to get to the_ Destiny."

"Think they'll manage?"

_"I hope so! They keep stealing Hailey from me when my team needs it's geek!" _

"That sucks!" Chuck smirked, knowing that Evan had a soft spot for the Captain, "Anyway, has this time planet-side given you time to do anything about that thing we were talking about?"

Chuck watched as Lorne looked away from him rather sheepishly, _"Not exactly…I uh…I just don't know how to move forward. It…it's awkward."_

"I don't really know what else to tell you other than what I already have…It shouldn't even be an issue."

_"I know, I know…It's just well, I…Oh I don't know."_

"Evan, let me put it this way: You have -" his computer beeped, "- oh crap, there's a fluctuation in the power grid, I gotta go."

_"Sure thing Chuck, speak to you later."_

Chuck nodded at his friend before cutting the connection and grabbing his radio.

"Amelia, I'm picking up a power fluctuation near where you are."

_"But I'm in a residential block." _Banks called back to him, _"Oh and Sheppard left his skateboard behind."_

Chuck smiled, "Just take a look at it for me. It's two floors below you, and I think it's near one of the filtration units."

_"I'll get back to you in five minutes!"_

"And don't do anything stupid with the skateboard. I want that in one piece so I've got an excuse to get in touch with Sheppard."

**Washington DC, District of Columbia, USA**

**September 1****st**** 2012, 8.30pm**

"They actually think this will work?" Richard Woolsey was incredulous.

_"Supposedly," _Walter Harriman sighed back down the phone, _"Not that my opinion matters that much but I think it will end in complete disaster. Sam, Dr. McKay and Dr. Lee had a similar idea a few years back but they themselves said it would never likely be a practical solution. It will just get the Destiny crew killed."_

"Where would Destiny get the power from?"

_"Kavanagh thinks if Destiny spends much longer in a star's coronasphere than it's designed to, it will give the ship the power it needs to lock on to another nine chevron gate address…We already know that we can 'patch' gate addresses, so we can create a nine chevron address for Earth, but the Destiny Gate is so much older and more rudimentary that I think it will destroy the gate almost instantaneously. I doubt even a Pegasus Gate could handle what Kavanagh wants the Destiny Gate to do."_

"So you want me to try and dissuade the IOA from taking this course of action?"

_"Not necessarily Mr Woolsey. I think the idea may be workable with a different gate. I had a quick word with Bill the other day and he thinks if he and some of the SGC's best minds are able to go to Destiny, they might in a few years be able to manufacture a gate that can dial a nine chevron address."_

"We can do that now?"

_"We've had enough time to pore over the information we have on Seed Ships and their gate-building facilities that Bill is confident he can do this if given enough time."_

"Interesting. I'll certainly try and see what I can do. I'll argue that while the plan has its merits, it should be considered an option for the long term, and not something we should do right away."

_"Thank you," _Walter sounded relieved, "_That means a lot. I have friends on-board Destiny. Just remember I never told you any of this."_

"Of course, as always, I'll let you know what's decided at the meeting. General O'Neill should be joining us."

Richard stopped, expecting Walter to respond.

"Walter?"

_"Uh, I uh gotta go. Todd's acting weird."_

"Anything I should be worrying about?"

_"I'll let you know."_

**Stargate Command, Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado Springs, USA**

**September 1****st**** 2012, 6.30pm**

"What's going on?" Lorne asked as he reached Todd's secure quarters.

"He's been screaming to be let out. He says he needs to speak to Colonel Sheppard."

"LET ME OUT!" Todd bellowed from the other side of the secured door of his room.

"Is our Wraith misbehaving?" Landry said with a hint of impatience as he and Walter joined Lorne and the security team.

"Open it," Landry instructed, taking a step back expecting the Wraith to jump out.

A sergeant opened the door and let it swing open, but Todd did not jump out as expected, instead he walked out in a slow, steady gait, a grim look on his features.

"Although I must still insist I speak with John Sheppard, I believe you are already too late."

**Central Iowa, USA**

**September 1****st**** 2012, 7.30pm**

"Look at that Patrick, no phone signal at all," John said in triumph as he marched between rows of corn.

They had been walking for almost an hour so that John could find a remote spot where no-one could find him. And now they were walking through a field of golden corn, almost ready for harvest.

"But I guess, it's a little late, they'll wonder where we are, why I'm not answering the phone, and Dave will go spare," he sighed at the 14 month-old strapped to his front, "because, Patrick, I'm sure you'll have noticed that my brother likes to be quite controlling, knowing where I am all the time and that's why I'm not really enjoying this vacation as much as I'd been expecting, and it's just as well you make a good sounding board little guy, or he'd have driven me insane already this week."

John let out another huffed sign, noticing that Patrick had no interest in his moaning and had returned to sucking on his fist instead.

"Worth it for the sunset though," John mused, holding up his phone to take a picture.

As he took the shot, he felt all the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, and heard a sound he'd never expected to hear again in his life. Steeling himself, he turned round and looked skyward.

"That is not good," he said as he watched a Wraith Scout ship pass over him, heading towards the setting sun…


	2. Commencement

**Chapter 2**

**Tokyo, Japan**

**September 2****st**** 2012, 8.45am**

_Right, so I go left at the station and just keep walking. Cannae be that simple._ Carson thought as he pulled out his iPhone to find out how to get to Tokyo Tech.

"What do you know, that's exactly what I need to do," he muttered before starting the short walk to meet Radek and Miko.

He stopped when he heard gasps and a few shrieks, and then people starting to scream.

At that precise moment a young woman frantically tapped on his forearm and pulled his phone out of his line of sight before pointing for him to turn round and look at the sky.

As he did, the sound of the Wraith Darts hit his ears with terrifying fury.

"Oh crap!"

Carson broke out into a run, looking back as at least a dozen darts swooped down.

"Run for cover! Don't be out in the open!" he yelled, before forgetting that the people around him wouldn't understand what he was on about. The message got through seconds later when he heard a young man shout his instructions in Japanese, and most people headed for the station and a nearby hospital for shelter.

Suddenly the darts began to swoop lower, and Carson recognised the tactic. He picked up his speed and headed towards Tokyo Tech, hugging the sides of building as he went.

His fears were confirmed when he saw a group of students being taken by a swooping dart, and moments later he saw another deposit a group of soldiers who began to fan out.

Not a moment too soon he realised he had indeed ran the wrong way, and clambered over a shoulder-height wall into the grounds of the university.

Some Wraith had already beaten him there, and his first glimpse of Radek in over a year was of the small Czech smashing a Wraith over the head with a table lamp.

**Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada**

**September 1****st**** 2012, 5.45pm**

The McKay-Millers continued their walk along English Bay, with Maddie finding increasingly inventive ways of slowing their progress.

"Look look look at this!" she shouted for the umpteenth time, "look what I found on the beach!"

This time her shouting perturbed baby Ewan who decided to voice his protests at the ten-year olds antics.

"Maddie! You've just upset the twins," Kaleb informed her, but his own shout to his daughter down on the beach only caused baby Elizabeth to join in the cacophony of noise.

"Oh well isn't that just great," Rodney moaned, before stopping dead in his tracks as he heard a faint buzzing sound on the sea air.

"With all this noise, my ears are playing tricks on me," he groaned.

"Kaleb," Jeannie barked, "Get her to quieten down," she pointed at the stroller as she held Ewan.

"Rodney, sorry, could you get Maddie back from the beach. Tell her to behave or she's not going out for dinner."

Rodney nodded, leaving his sister and brother-in-law to calm the toddlers down.

It was a low tide, and Maddie was crouched down at the water's edge, pulling pebbles and small shells out of the wet sand.

"Time to go," he intoned.

"But look at all this stuff! I can't leave! I need to gather a good sample for my research project!" She said defiantly, not turning to face her uncle.

"You're going to the park tomorrow. You'll have plenty of time to pick up shells and stuff tomorrow."

"I'm going to be a marine biologist Uncle Mer. I don't want anything to get in the way of my research!"

Rodney was halfway through rolling his eyes when he left out a bemused chuckle. Maddie was definitely a McKay.

"Maddie, I appreciate where you're coming from, but the twins and your dad need fed. We want to go somewhere for dinner, but I suppose if you want to go home and eat your mom's cooking then…"

"I'm done!" Maddie announced, jumping to her feet, "Completely!"

Rodney chuckled before a black speck in the sky caught his eye.

"Oh no…"

"Uncle Mer?" Maddie asked, seeing the look of fear in his eyes.

"Maddie, go. Go get your parents and run!"

"But-"

"Now!" he yelled.

Once Maddie was running, he joined her and got back to the road.

"Uncle Mer said to run!" Maddie shrieked pulling at Jeannie's elbow.

"Wow, wow, from what?" Jeannie replied, standing her ground.

"It's a dart!" Rodney said around a large gulp.

Mer-" Jeannie began, shooting sad a look her husband's way before returning her attention to her brother, "It isn't a dart. We don't get them in Vancouver. Or anywhere else in Canada as far as I know."

"But I swear. I heard it I-"

"Does it sound like a mosquito?" Kaleb asked.

"Aw c'mon, don't make fun of me…well it does actually," Rodney conceded.

"Yeah, well," Kaleb breathed, his eyes fixed somewhere out to sea, "I can hear 'em, and I can see 'em."

Rodney turned rounded to see dozens of black specks on the horizon growing larger and larger.

"Okay," said Jeannie, "I vote we run."

**Atlantis, San Francisco Bay, California, USA**

**September 1****st**** 2012, 5.50pm**

Chuck watched in slow motion as the string of his yoyo snapped, and the main body of his toy rolled off, heading towards the Gate Room's stairs.

"Wonderful," he grumbled getting up to follow it.

"_Chuck," _he heard a shout from the radio as he reached the stairs, _"It's a Wraith transponder!"_

Chuck immediately ran to the console to return Amelia's frantic call.

"Get back up here now, I'll let the SGC-"

There was a flash of light in the form of an Asgard transportation beam, and seconds later General O'Neill, Colonel Evan Lorne and several Air Force Officers were stranding in the Control Room.

"-know," Chuck finished.

"Control Chair," Jack said to Chuck.

"Follow me sir."

"Then get me Sheppard."

"Yes sir."

**Washington DC, District of Columbia, USA**

**September 1****st**** 2012, 8.50pm **

Richard had just settled down for the night. He was in his pyjamas with a large glass of his favourite red wine and was just about to start reading _The Fry Chronicles: A Memoir_ written by Stephen Fry when he heard a familiar buzzing sound outside. Huffing, he put the glass and book down, and headed for his window, pulling the curtains to one side.

Nothing. Nothing but the dark empty street.

Richard stood at the window a moment longer, sighing at his overactive imagination, when there was suddenly a blinding flash of light. His heart palpitated in his chest, and he risked another look outside, only to see several Wraith heading off in different directions, with one heading right for the door of his apartment block.

"Not good, not good, not good," he whispered breathlessly, running to his safe to retrieve the sole gun in his possession.

He checked that the revolver was loaded, before picking up his phone and dialling the Pentagon.

He never got the chance to make is call however, as he too was swallowed by a blinding flash of light.

**Central Iowa, USA**

**September 1****st**** 2012, 8.00pm**

It was dark now, and John was still running, hugging Patrick close to his chest. Every few seconds he would slow, just a little, to check if his phone had picked up a signal.

He was yet to see any Darts, only the Scout that had passed over heading west.

John felt helpless, and for the first time in many years, he was regretting running away, even if it had only been for an hour.

**Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada**

**September 1****st**** 2012, 6.00pm**

"Whoa! Gun!" Kaleb yelled as Rodney produced an M9 seemingly from nowhere and began taking aim at a Wraith Drone heading their way.

"Mer!" Jeannie shouted.

"You're seriously going to lecture me about firearms right now?" He hissed at her seconds after the drone fell to the ground.

Vancouver was in the full brunt of a Wraith attack at that moment, and the McKay-Millers had retreated into an alleyway a few blocks from the seafront. Jeannie and Kaleb held a twin each, while Jeannie clung to her mother's side, remaining completely silent.

The darts swooped overhead and Rodney heard the familiar sound of a Wraith beam.

"Ow...Ear!" cried Elizabeth trying to cover her eyes over the din.

"I'm nearly out of ammo!" Rodney alerted his family, "Kaleb, find out if there's a gun shop nearby, Jeannie, phone the SGC!"

"The nearest one is on Burrard Street," Kaleb informed Rodney.

"You answered that a bit quickly Kaleb," Jeannie remarked.

"Jeannie. SGC. Now." Rodney ordered his sister.

**Tokyo, Japan**

**September 2****st**** 2012, 9.00am**

There was anarchy on the streets of Tokyo, as the Wraith attack continued. Radek, Carson and Miko were ensconced in the café, having retreated back inside after the first wave of the attack. Radek still clutched the now bloodied lamp he'd used to despatch the Wraith that now lay lifeless right outside the café.

The three Lanteans could do nothing but stay still and quiet at carnage reigned around them. They'd seen dozens of people being whisked away, and dozens of Wraith landing just yards from where they hid.

"Why Tokyo? Why Japan at all?" Miko gasped in shock.

"It's the largest city in the world," Radek said calmly, "perhaps the largest in the whole human Diaspora."

_But what if they're targeting other places as well? _Thought Carson.

"I cannot sit here any longer," announced Radek, standing up suddenly.

"Sit back down!" Carson shouted, jumping up to grab the man's elbow.

"I can't Carson! I cannot sit here and watch this!"

"Radek, there is nothing that we can do," Miko said, tears stinging at her eyes, "If we intervene we will likely get ourselves killed, The SGC will stop the Wraith."

Hearing Carson and Miko's words made Radek sit back down again.

"I want to know what the SGC's done this time to bring the Wraith to our doorstep. What have they been up to while we've been away?"

"Lord only knows," Carson sighed.

**Central Iowa, USA**

**September 1****st**** 2012, 8.10pm**

"Storm shelter, now!" John yelled upon returning to Dave Sheppard's holiday.

"Where the hell have you been?!" His brother yelled, reaching out for Patrick.

"I went a walk-"

"He's needs fed!" Dave shouted, again reaching for the boy.

"Storm shelter right now!" John ordered.

The brother's argument brought a young face to peer round the corner into the den the brothers now stood in.

"Zoe, sweetie, go to your room," Dave said in a measured voice.

"Okay daddy," the seven-year old responded.

"Zoe, I need you to go to the storm shelter."

"Why?"

"Because…" John trailed off, stuck for an explanation that would be plausible, "Didn't you hear, about 40 minutes ago, a lot of noise, like a plane going overhead really low?"

"Yeah-"

"-John, they've been doing trials of some pretty big passenger jets all over the place recently," Dave reasoned.

"What's all the noise," April Sheppard said as she rounded the corner.

John looked at his sister-in-law for a second as she came to stand behind her daughter, a look of concern on her features.

"Please, all of you, please just go into the storm shelter."

"What's this fixation with the storm shelter?" Dave said in a low steady voice, "If you think it's going to distract us from you taking off with Patrick, you've got another think coming."

"Please, David, just trust me."

The brothers locked eyes for a second, but the moment was broken by John's phone.

"Sheppard."

"_John, you need to get your ass to the SGC, like half an hour ago!" _Jack O'Neill yelled down the phone.

"I'm in Iowa. I saw a…UFO…fly overhead."

"_Who are you with?"_

"My family," Sheppard said, not wanting to give the General a list.

"_We've got your location. Everyone within twenty feet of you is getting an all-expenses paid trip to the SGC."_

"Even my bro-"

John never finished his sentence when the tingle of the Asgard teleporter enveloped him.

**Atlantis, San Francisco Bay, California, USA**

**September 1****st**** 2012, 6.10pm**

"Sir," Chuck began, "If Sheppard isn't going to be in the chair, who is?"

"I will," Jack said, "Lorne will be here for backup should something go wrong. I've just requested that Landry get us some rail guns and some Marines that can fire them, help us end this."

"Of course sir. What do you need me to do?"

"We're still trying to get a hold of McKay and Zelenka. Until we do, you are our chief scientist. Get this city up and running."

Chucks eyes widened, "Uhm, okay sir."

**Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada**

**September 1****st**** 2012, 6.10pm**

"We're in Vancouver!" Jeannie yelled into her phone, "No. Vancouver. Why the hell would we be at the Hoover Dam?!"

The noise of the Wraith attack had grown deafening, with Darts flying all over the place. Rodney had glanced upwards on a couple of occasions and had seen a couple of RCAF sorties flying overhead, trying to stop the relentless attack.

"_We can't get a lock on your brother's locator beacon Dr. Miller," _Landry informed her, _"But we're sending a cloaked jumper your way. We need you and your brother at the SGC now."_

The call cut off, and Jeannie tried to get her brother's attention.

"Mer!"

"Anybody got a knife, or a weapon of some kind?" he asked the two vegans and the three children, "No?"

"Mer, the SGC are sending a cloaked jumper, we need to be out in the open for when it gets here."

"Why can't they beam us?"

"Wraith interference."

"We can't go out in the open!" Kaleb blurted, "They'll," he whispered, "kill us."

"We don't have a choice."

**Tokyo, Japan**

**September 2****st**** 2012, 9.10am**

"Thank you," Carson said as he put the phone down.

"Well?" Radek enquired.

"The SGC need us apparently," Carson grimaced, "but they can't get a lock on our beacons. They said we need to find Kavanagh because apparently he has a new type of beacon that they can get a lock on. They won't beam him until we find him. They also apologised to us for having to find Kavanagh."

Miko started slapping Radek on the arm as they watched a tall skinny white guy with glasses and a briefcase run by, pursued by a Wraith.

"He must have heard us talking about him," Radek said quietly.

The trio hurriedly left the café, but not before Radek quickly ducked into the kitchen, emerging moments later with a large, razor sharp sushi knife.

The three scientists stayed close to the side of the building as they watch Kavanagh stumble and fall to the ground. The terrified scientist turned to face the Wraith, who held his feeding hand at the ready.

"You don't wanna eat me!" He cried at the Wraith, "Eat one of the locals! They'll be better for you! They eat healthy food so they'll taste nicer than I will!" he babbled as he continued scuttling away from the Wraith.

The Wraith let out an arrogant chuckle at Kavanagh's expense and stood bolt upright, taking another step towards the terrified scientist.

As Kavanagh fainted, Radek made his move, running forward and embedding the knife deep in the alien's back.

The Wraith dropped to the ground almost instantly.

"We'll I'm two for two," The Czech said triumphantly as Carson and Miko joined him at Kavanagh's side.

Carson picked up his phone again, "General Landry sir, we've got Kavanagh."

Seconds later the four scientists were beamed to safety.

**Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada**

**September 1****st**** 2012, 6.15pm**

Rodney and has family had made it to a small square, but it had not been an easy sojourn as they battled to keep the children out of harm's way. Rodney and Kaleb had taken to throwing things at any Wraith they happened to see, had and been morbidly relieved to discover that the Wraith would rather attack moving targets than ones hurling projectiles at them. It had saved their lives, but they'd witnessed other people who had not been so lucky: they had already walked by several fed-upon corpses.

Rodney made out the cloaked outline of the jumper, only visible to his well trained eye.

"This way!"

The jumper had spotted them too, and lowered the rear hatch.

"Dr McKay?" a young USAF lieutenant shouted.

"Yeah, and family!"

The lieutenant beckoned them inside the jumper and once they were all safely inside, the lieutenant closed the hatch.

"Wow…What are we in?" gasped Maddie, opening her eyes properly for the first time in several minutes.

"We're in a very special type of aircraft sweetie, and it's going to keep us all safe," Jeannie informed her.

"Dr McKay," the Lieutenant interjected, "I've never flown a jumper in a combat situation before so would you mind?"

"Who the heck did they send for us? You want me to pilot? I'm a lousy pilot!"

"Meredith!" Jeannie barked.

"Flying us away," he mumbled, settling down behind the Jumper's controls.

Rodney took the Jumper into a sharp incline, above the attack paths of the Darts, and from altitude of 1,000 feet, they could clearly see the scope of the attack. There were Darts and RCAF Hornets everywhere, and plumes of smoke rose from various locations in the city. Rodney took the ship higher still, aiming for the upper reaches of the atmosphere in order to make their journey to the SGC as quick as possible.

"I feel sick," Kaleb explained as it dawned on him where they were going.

"The is awesome!" gasped Maddie as the jumper's windshield view faded to black.

**Stargate Command, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA**

**September 1****st**** 2012, 7.25pm**

Their time in space was short, however, and Rodney manoeuvred the Jumper back down to Earth, arriving at Cheyenne Mountain just a few minutes later.

The mountain's blast roof opened, permitting the jumper entry, and the ship parked in the SGC's makeshift jumper bay a few floors above the Stargate.

As the ship came to a stop, he heard Ewan begin to cry for the first time since the start of the attack, and after securing the HUD he walked up to Kaleb, taking hold of the two year-old.

"It's okay kiddo, I'm here," he said, trying to calm the toddler down.

Landry appeared at the Jumper Bay door, "Meeting room now, all of you."

Rodney, Jeannie, Kaleb, Maddie and the twins quickly walked through the SGC's corridors, catching an elevator to Level 28 before the entire family were led into the completely packed meeting room.

Rodney looked around at a myriad of familiar faces: Carson, Radek, Miko and Kavanagh looked like they'd been in the wars. Daniel Jackson, Vala and Teal'c were uncharacteristically tense, and Woolsey cut a strange figure in his pyjamas. Finally his eyes caught sight of a man he'd seen before, but couldn't place. He was flanked by a young woman with strawberry blonde hair, and young girl of seven or eight.

"What the hell is going on?" The man yelled.

"Mr Sheppard," Landry said loudly, "I must ask you to remain calm or you will be removed."

Sheppard. The man was Dave Sheppard.

It was only after Dave sat down that he noticed John leaning against the far wall, a toddler strapped to his front. The Colonel had not yet noticed him.

As Landry ushered everyone to get closer to the table, John finally noticed Rodney, and looked up, a little bit startled. Ewan chose that precise moment to batter his head off of Rodney's chest, before lazily slumping over the physicist as if nothing in his world was amiss.

"Long time no see," he said calmly to his former team leader.

Sheppard for his part merely nodded. No words were forthcoming.

Landry finally took his seat at the head of the table.

"Okay, for the uninitiated here," he began, looking at Dave and his wife, "this is not normally how we do things. Nor do we usually have children at meeting as important as this, but the circumstances are unprecedented, and we have no people on hand to take care of the kids. If you've got headphones or games for the girls, please use them."

Kaleb reached into his back pocket, retrieving his iPhone and a set of headphones and handed them to a very confused-looking Maddie. John's sister-in-law did the same with John's niece at the other end of the table.

When Landry was certain neither girl was listening, he continued. "I need to make this brief as the President is expecting me at the Pentagon in the next ten minutes. As most of you are aware, the Wraith have attacked Earth. There was no advance warning, and their attack appears to be devastating, and on-going. We have had reports of Wraith attacks over just about every major city in the entire world, and we've got reports of up to four hives in orbit, ready to continue the attack. We are currently trying to make Atlantis battle-ready, and the X-304 fleet is launching as we speak. Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China, Japan and Korea are launching their fleets as well.

We've beamed all of you from your various locations as we need your help. Radek, Miko, Kavanagh, Dr Miller. Please head to Atlantis to assist with readying the city. Carson, we need you to come with me to Washington to help us put together our medical response to our allies. Jackson, Mr Miller. We need you to help prepare a speech for the President: There's no way the program can stay secret now. McKay, although you are our best scientist, we need as many Jumpers in the air as possible, please report back to the Jumper bay for your orders. Colonel Sheppard, Todd has asked that he speak with you. As for Mr and Mrs Sheppard, you will be taken to guest quarters for the meantime, along with the children, where you will be safe."

"But-"

"It's not debatable Mr Sheppard," Landry warned the younger man.

"Normally I would ask if there's anything else, but we don't have the time. All of you get going."

Landry stood abruptly and beckoned for Carson, Daniel and Kaleb to follow. Kaleb had no choice but to hand Elizabeth over to the Sheppards. He thanked them and shot Jeannie a reasuring look before winking at Maddie.

"I'll be back in no time," he smiledm and left the room with Carson, Daniel and Landry.

Radek quickly caught Rodney's elbow, giving his old boss a small smile before he, Miko, and a slightly green looking Kavanagh filed out to get prepped for Atlantis.

Rodney held Ewan tight, not wanting to leave the children with strangers, and as Dave and April Sheppard's security escort arrived, he noticed John did not seem to want to give their son back to them.

"That your nephew John?"

The seemingly innocuous question startled John, who looked back at Rodney with cold eyes.

"No, this is Patrick!"

Rodney gave John a confused look.

"He's my son, Rodney!"

Rodney barely had time to process John's response when John asked a question of his own to Jeannie who was giving Maddie a hug, "Did you have twins Jeannie?"

"Nope. They're Mer's,"


	3. Descent

**Stargate Command, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA**

**September 1****st**** 2012, 7.30pm**

"Twins McKay?" John looked at Rodney in complete surprise, "How did that happen?"

Rodney's eyes grew dark for a moment, "The same way your son did, I'd imagine," he responded tersely.

"I- Rodney-"

"No time, people, let's get a move on!" Landry bellowed as he walked back into the briefing room to retrieve a file, "This is not a class reunion. People are dying out there quite possibly by the million."

Landry charged back out of the room, shouting at Woolsey as he left, "I don't think the President will mind your Pyjamas Dick. We'll get you something at the White House."

"Uh…Yes sir," Richard said, heading for the door. He stopped for a moment however and looked towards Sheppard, "Congratulations John, I'm sure you're an excellent father."

With that said and done, Richard ran to catch up with Landry.

That left Rodney, Jeannie, the children and the Sheppard family in the room, with only two escorts present.

"Mr and Mrs Sheppard, if you and your daughter would like to accompany us," said one of the escorts, a young lieutenant, "Dr. McKay, Dr. Miller, Colonel Sheppard. Your children will need to come with us too."

John gingerly took off the baby carrier and carefully handed his young son to his sister-in-law. "Dave, April. If they let you make a call, please try and get through to Nancy and tell her what you know. She has full clearance and she should be either at the Pentagon or the White House right now."

"Of course John," said April, hugging her nephew close.

Dave said nothing. Patrick turned round and gave his dad a smile, aware that something wasn't right, but settled enough to be with his aunt and uncle.

As April now held Patrick, and Dave already held Elizabeth, Rodney handed Ewan to Maddie.

"You take good care of them Maddie, and do what Mr and Mrs Sheppard tell you," said Jeannie, "Everything's going to be fine and your dad and your Uncle Mer and I will be back real soon."

Jeannie looked to be close to tears. Maddie had noticed this and gave her mother a smile.

"Mum, it's going to be alright. And Uncle Mer, don't worry about the twins."

As soon as Rodney stepped back from his niece, the twins seemed to realise that their dad was going elsewhere.

"Da…no!" Ewan wailed.

Elizabeth pushed back against Dave and crossed her arms scowling at Rodney.

"I have to go, but Maddie will be there, and I won't be long."

It didn't placate Elizabeth who continued scowling. Ewan burst out crying again.

"Look, I know this is difficult, but we've all got places to be and the longer we wait, it's just gonna get worse, for the kids and for us. We need to go _now_."

With John's not so gentle nudging, the meeting room was cleared in less than a minute.

**Atlantis, San Francisco Bay, California, USA**

**September 1****st**** 2012, 6.35pm**

"Anything yet?" Jack barked at Chuck.

"No sir, I don't know much about the Chair and it's been deactivated for ages. We really need McKay or Zelenka here."

"Crap," Jack sighed, sitting down in the Chair, "Do you know I'm retired now Sergeant Campbell? Not that anyone would know it. I'm a complete schmuck for doing this."

Chuck blinked at that statement, "Uhm, well, we thank you for being one Sir."

Nope, that hadn't come out right.

* * *

Upstairs in the control room, Radek, Miko, Jeannie and Kavanagh had just arrived, much to Amelia's relief.

"General O'Neill, the cavalry just got here."

"_Get McKay down here now!"_

"McKay's not here, but I can send down Zelenka, Kusanagi, Kavanagh or Miller."

"_Fine, then get Zelenka down here!"_

"On my way," Radek responded, "Miko – You're in charge."

Miko looked stunned, "Really sir? Thank you!"

"What?!" shouted Kavanagh, "I'm the best scientist here. I am _not _taking orders from _her_!"

"Oh god my brother was right about you," Jeannie muttered, scowling at the bespectacled scientist.

Radek scowled at Kavanagh, "Yes you will take orders from her Peter. You're bottom of the pile as far as I am concerned. You will follow Miko's lead and you will listen closely to both her and Dr Miller's instructions."

Radek's tone told Kavanagh to leave it alone. Radek may be a small, normally quiet man, but his mind was formidable. Plus he'd spent two years as a conscript in the Czechoslovak Armed Forces – you didn't want to mess with him.

Lorne, grinned at the Czech's determination and headed for the Gate Room stairs, "I'm away to start placing the rail guns we've been sent."

The Czech stormed off in the direction of a transporter, and only when he was out of sight did Jeannie's statement register with Kavanagh.

"Who the hell's your brother?"

**Stargate Command, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA**

**September 1****st**** 2012, 7.40pm**

"Hello Todd."

"Hello John Sheppard," Todd replied, but that tiny bit of humour that was usually evident in his voice was conspicuously absent, "That you're here tells me that either everything is well, or that you're losing the battle."

"You know we're under attack?" John asked him.

"Well I do now that you have confirmed it for me."

John didn't need to ask how Todd knew of the attack. A Wraith's psychic abilities were the strongest anyone from Earth had encountered. He would have sensed the Wraith in orbit.

"Something is not right with this attack, John Sheppard."

"You're telling me, Todd. They came out of the blue, from another galaxy. We didn't even detect their approach until they were in orbit. You care to give any explanation as for how they could have managed it?"

"How they got here is a mystery to me also. Had they had access to the modified hyperdrive then they would have been here much sooner, even without Zero Point Modules," Todd looked to the ground briefly, scuffing at the concrete with his boot, "What bothers me more is who is in charge of the lead hive in orbit – He is much too young, and he is purposefully pushing me out of his mind. It is as if he is hiding something from me."

"The Wraith know you're down here?"

"Yes, but I should be of no concern to them. I am a prisoner and therefore they do not recognise me as Wraith. They would feed on me like they would you."

John took a step back and leaned on the wall before continuing his conversation, "Todd, I would love to talk Wraith politics with you, but I'm on a tight schedule. You have to tell me anything you know that can help us end this attack! Anything at all!"

"I cannot, I have no tactical information to give you that would help. I only wish I were able to help more decisively. Unfortunately this attack will lead to my death along with your own unless you are able to stop them, so I mustn't keep you here any longer."

John believed him – The Wraith had no reason to lie, and he had shown again and again that he did not bear any ill will against the human race – he took human life only as he needed, for basic sustenance, and had laughed with sadness and grief when Dr. Lam had told him that she was a vegetarian. He believed her choice to be an exceptionally rare privilege.

Since arriving at the SGC in 2009, John and the Wraith had talked many times. Todd had divulged that he was over 7,000 years old, and had confessed that a lot of Wraith did not make it to that age due to the guilt of knowing the suffering they had inflicted. Not long after he had arrived on Earth, and had been transferred from Atlantis to the SGC, he'd looked at Sheppard as he sat with a cooked breakfast and said.

"Could you eat a Bacon if it were still living and looking at you in horror and agony as you took it's life?" Todd had asked, "I do not believe you could do so without losing a part of your sanity."

John had laughed at the time, as Todd had thought that bacon was the name of the animal and not pig. But the Wraith's statement had stuck with him.

Luckily for Todd, Lam had come up with a makeshift solution to keep Todd living – live pigs. They were nowhere near as healthy for him, but they kept him going. But as Sheppard had watched Todd feed on the poor, squealing animals, their earlier conversation came back to haunt him – and give him nightmares.

John shook his mind back to the present, and turned for the door of the isolation room.

"John Sheppard," Todd called one last time.

Todd waited for him to turn around before continuing.

"Should you remember a conversation we once had, then you may understand the meaning of what I am about to say – The Wraith in charge of this cull is far too sane to be normal."

John didn't know quite what Todd meant, but it chilled him to the bone.

**The White House, Washington DC, District of Columbia, USA**

**September 1****st**** 2012, 9.50pm**

"I don't quite get what you're wanting from me Mrs President," Kaleb said quietly to President Jolene Robins, "I mean, I'm a Canadian citizen and-"

"And you have a working knowledge of the programme. You've been assisting Dr Jackson and his team in analysing alien languages, and you majored in English. The fact that you're a Canadian citizen is a bonus. I want this speech to have international appeal. I do not want this speech to come across as being only for the ears of American Citizens."

Kaleb, Daniel and Landry were sat in a room with President Robins and former President Hayes. The room was in a bunker under the White House, and various staff continually ran in and out while Kaleb and Daniel worked to ready a speech for Robins.

"Mrs President," Daniel began, "Further to your comment on making this speech international in nature, I believe we should include practical information on how to defeat the Wraith on the ground, and appropriate care for victims that are not outright killed by the feeding process."

"I think we should also mention that we've won against these bastards before," added Kaleb.

Hayes sat nodding quietly, indicating his approval, "We just need to make sure we have the balance right between giving information to the population, and giving them hope. Too much information is going to make them panic even more."

The group's brainstorming was interrupted by the door opening, permitting Woolsey and the Chair of the Joint Chiefs. They were followed by White House staff carrying a variety of things including the Presidential Seal, flags and a large camera, obviously gearing up for a broadcast.

"Mr Woolsey, Francis," Robins nodded as Richard and General Maynard, Chair of the Joint Chiefs walked forward.

"We're losing contact with our allies by the minute Jolene," said Maynard, "Darts are taking out satellites and they're attacking ground positions. We still have limited contact with Canada, Britain, Japan and China. But we've not heard a peep from Russia."

"The IOA report much the same," sighed Woolsey, "Most of the board are in their respective home countries at the moment, and Dr Strom is on holiday in New Zealand as far as we know, but we cannot contact him."

"Do we have a full list of cities under attack?"

"Only a partial one ma'am," said Maynard, handing over a list of affected areas.

President Robins looked through the list intently, letting out a sigh as she turned the page.

"This is even worse than the last report. You'd be as well telling me that every place on earth is being attacked."

"Just about," Maynard said gravely.

"Francis, Richard. I need you to keep trying to contact our allies. We need a way to co-ordinate a response."

**Colorado, USA**

**September 1****st**** 2012, 8pm**

"_McKay, come in."_ Mitchell's voice was loud and clear over the radio.

"Mitchell, I'm here!"

"_Nice of you to join us," _ he joked, _"Our strategy is for the F-302s to remain in high orbit, and to take out darts en masse as soon as they leave one of the hives or cruisers. Jumpers are deployed between 15 and 20 thousand feet to take on Darts that make it through our defences."_

"I understand, and I'll join the other Jumpers."

"_Thanks McKay. I'm in overall charge of this operation, so I'll need you to keep listening to the radio, should our strategy need to change."_

"Thanks Mitchell."

Rodney continued climbing higher into the sky in his Puddle Jumper, mentally instructing the HUD to tell him when he reached 20 thousand feet.

It didn't take long for that to happen, and he instructed the Jumper's auto-pilot to lay in a standard patrol flight plan. He also told the Jumper to bring any other activity in the sky to his immediate attention. Additionally, he instructed the Jumper to conduct scans of the entire atmosphere at his altitude, and to alert him to any mass movement through the atmosphere.

No sooner had he done that but his radio beeped into life.

"_This is Mitchell calling the Jumper Fleet. Most of our F-302s are over North America, but we've received word from our allies in the air over Europe that they're taking a beating! All Jumpers are to redeploy over Europe effective immediately. Further redeployment is likely so keep your ears open. Mitchell out."_

"Damn it," Rodney said, instructing the Jumper to set a course for central Europe.

No sooner had he done that, and a Wraith Dart decloaked behind him, opening fire.

"What the _fuck?" _Rodney shouted as his Jumper took a direct hit.

"Mitchell! When the FUCK were you going to tell me that these Darts have CLOAKING DEVICES!"

"_What are you on about?"_

"I've just taken a direct hit, and he's still right behind me, and the HUD tells me he decloaked!"

There was no response.

"Mitchell. Mitchell?!"

Realising Mitchell's radio was dead, Rodney quickly turned his full attention to shaking off the Dart behind him, but it wasn't going well as the left drive pod took a direct hit.

"McKay to SGC. I've taken a direct hit to one of the drivepods. I'm over the Atlantic and will choose to ditch there should I be unable to maintain control of the Jumper."

Rodney listened.

The SGC was also silent.

**Atlantis, San Francisco Bay, California, USA**

**September 1****st**** 2012, 7.10pm**

"It's no use Miko," sighed Amelia, "I'm not making radio contact with anyone. There's too much Wraith interference."

"In that case we need to concentrate our efforts in getting equipment from anywhere we can. Area 51, MIT. Anywhere we can really." Miko instructed before turning to Jeannie and Kavanagh, "Any luck yet?"

"I don't think there's a chance that this city will fly," Jeannie responded.

"I have to reluctantly agree," Peter said, scowling at Jeannie.

"In that case, we need to focus on getting this city ready as a defence platform."

**The General Hammond, traversing the Galactic Void between Pegasus and the Milky Way**

**September 1****st**** 2012, Beta Shift**

"Dave. How long until we reach a Pegasus Gate?" Sam asked the _General Hammond's_ navigator.

"About six hours."

"Thank you," she smiled, turning to the _Hammond's _pilot, Marks, "Kevin - Any chance we can step on it?"

"Of course Sam. If you don't mind my asking, is there a reason?"

"Just going with my gut…I have a bad feeling about something. I just want to touch base and make sure everything's okay."

Marks nodded and turned his attention to the helm, "I'll push the engines a little bit and we can be there in about four hours. That's as quick as we can do."

**The White House, Washington DC, District of Columbia, USA**

**September 1****st**** 2012, 10.15pm**

"I like this," Robins said, reading over Daniel and Kaleb's work.

"Thank you Mrs President," Daniel said, "And if you're happy with the speech, may I please request on Kaleb's behalf that he be allowed to return to the SGC to be with his daughter."

"I'm afraid that won't be possible Dr. Jackson," sighed General Maynard who had just put down a phone in the corner of the room, "Out staff above ground have just said that we have no radio communications whatsoever."

**Atlantis, San Francisco Bay, California, USA**

**September 1****st**** 2012, 7.20pm**

"The ZPM's too depleted, I'm sorry," said Radek, as he checked and rechecked the myriad wires that jutted out from the chair platform.

"You sure? I've just started getting a whole load of readings here!" Replied Jack.

Radek turned round to see the space above the chair lit up with a mesmerising array of hologrammatic charts and diagrams.

Chuck grabbed his laptop and typed furiously. "Sir, there's nowhere the energy for this is being generated from within the city."

Chuck and Radek both looked at O'Neill, and for the first time they noticed a very faint glow in the General's eyes.

"I know…It's coming from Russia…"

**Stargate Command, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA**

**September 1****st**** 2012, 8.30pm**

Still processing his conversation with Todd, John walked at speed through the corridors of the SGC, intent on getting a Jumper in the air to join the fight as soon as possible.

He never got the chance as he was suddenly enveloped in the glow of a transporter beam.

**Secret Russian Facility, 300 miles north of Yakutsk, Siberia**

**September 2****nd**** 2012, 11.30am**

"Welcome to Siberia Colonel Sheppard, I'm Dr. Svetlana Markov."

"Siberia?"

"You've been beamed here at the request of General Jack O'Neill."

John hugged his arms around himself, suddenly very aware of the painful nip of cold in air.

"How? Worldwide communications are down thanks to the Wraith!"

"I'll show you how, but there's not much time…You see we needed someone with a strong expression of the ATA Gene as soon as possible."

Markov turned and walked down a damp corridor and John quickly followed suit. He slipped a few times as he realised that water dripping from an abundance of overhead pipes was freezing almost as soon as it hit the ground. He was so busy trying to keep upright as he followed the Russian scientist, that he didn't immediately notice the impressive piece of Ancient hardware:

Another Control Chair…

**Over Scotland, Great Britain**

**September 2****nd**** 2012, 3.40am**

"This is NOT good!" Rodney yelled as his jumper took another hit, and he felt the cockpit begin to depressurise.

He needed to ditch or land, and quickly.

He dipped the Jumper suddenly, hoping that the Dart would believe he was going to crash.

The simple manoeuvre worked, and the Dart pulled up, looking for it's next victim.

Once the Dart was a sufficient distance away, Rodney attempted to level his descent, aiming for the flat ground he could see on the horizon.

"I'm like a leaf on the wind…"he said to himself, "Oh come on wait a minute, don't jinx yourself you moron! No no…this landing is going to be fine. The Wraith are not Reavers and there's no spikey things where I'm headed….This landing is going to be textbook."

**Atlantis, San Francisco Bay, California, USA**

**September 1****st**** 2012, 7.45pm**

"You're saying General O'Neill used Atlantis' control chair to speak to you?" John asked Markov.

"Yes. As soon as the attack started, our new flagship – the Chekov – beamed my team here to allow us to activate our chair-"

"-Which the SGC and the IOA know nothing about."

Markov regarded Sheppard with an ironic look, "I still don't believe our Government or the IOA know everything that Homeworld Security is up to these days Colonel. Let's not go pointing fingers. Now is most certainly not the time."

Sheppard held her look for a second more, before indicating for the technician sitting in the chair to vacate.

John hesitated for only a brief second before sitting down.

Immediately he was aware of a new sensation with this chair – different from what he'd experienced in either the Antarctic or Atlantis Chairs.

"Wow this is different."

Instantly, various displays were projected above him, and he quickly asked the chair to tell him it's defensive capabilities.

He felt a sense of relief when the chair indicated it had a full bank of drones, but the relief was not his own – someone else was in there with him.

"_Relax Sheppard – it's just me," _General O'Neill's voice echoed inside his head, _"Don't ask me how, but with there being two active chairs on Earth, they seem to be linked somehow. That's how I was able to get Russians to beam you to the chair's location. We're going to need to work together, so I hope you don't mind me being in your headspace."_

"_Not at all sir," _John replied without verbalising the words.

"_Don't lie to me John, this is freaking me out just as much as it's freaking you out!"_

"_Okay General, I mind a little bit, but I'd rather keep my planet in one piece."_

"_Good. I've got Zelenka at this end, but this chair is running off the same power source as yours."_

"_I know," _responded John, as the chair brought up a diagram to illustrate the power output of the ZPM.

**Glasgow, Scotland, Great Britain**

**September 2****nd**** 2012, 4am**

Rodney had miraculously landed in piece, though he had overshot the park he'd wanted to land in. He quickly grabbed as much hardware as he could, including a 9mm, a P90, several magazines, a Lifesigns Detector and a Zat Gun. Pulling the P90 up so he could start shooting as soon as he left the Jumper, he pulled the hatch release and moved forward.

Pitch black and silent. In the middle of a city there was not a sound. Of course Rodney had no idea what the local time was.

Taking the opportunity, he locked up the Jumper, resetting the cloak and moving forward again.

Almost instantly someone took a pot shot at him.

"Wow wow wow!" He yelled loudly, "I'm human."

A young man in a tracksuit rounded a corner holding what looked to be a BB gun.

"Sorry pal, but whit ur you flying in?" He asked in a very thick Scottish Accent.

"It uh…it's classified," Rodney babbled.

"Ah just shot four big aliens wi' big fuck-off guns wi' them and you're tellin' me that your ship's classified!?"

"Sorry…It's an experimental ship…It has a cloak," he responded by way of explanation.

"Is it fae Area 51? Is that where these aliens came from? You Americans with all your classified crap?" The young man - Rodney reckoned he was only about 20 years of age at most - pointed the BB gun directly at him.

"I'm not American," Rodney said with a hint of indignation, "I'm Canadian."

"Oh right," he lowered the gun, "Ma Aunty lives in Edmonton in Alberta. Pure brilliant place. 'Mon wi me man."

The man beckoned for him to follow him, when some words of sage advice from Carson echoed in his ears:

_'Scotland's a lovely place, but watch out for the Neds. They're like Chavs only worse.'_

This man was a Ned.

"I need to stay by my ship,"

"If yae stay oot here thae Aliens ur gonna kill yae…Right…If you're gonna stay oot here, on your own, I'll tell you where anybody wi' a brain is."

He pointed a finger at the entrance to an underground station a short distance away – "St. Enoch's"

"There's hunners a folk in there…Good luck mate, and welcome tae Glasgow."

"Thank you," Rodney smiled, watching the Ned run off and disappear into the underground station.

Once he was gone, Rodney took a moment to survey his surroundings. He'd been in Scotland before, but only for a few days before and after the original Carson's funeral. If his memory served him right he'd parked the Jumper on one of the city centre's busiest streets – Argyle Street. The last time he'd been here it had been full of shoppers enjoying the January sales.

Now there was no-one about. No one alive at least. Looking along the abandoned street he counted at least twenty bodies.

But he would be proud to report to Carson that there more death Wraith than there were humans.

Certain that there were no Wraith lurking nearby – and that the young gentleman with the BB gun was gone – he decided to return to the Jumper and see if he could repair it and get back in the air.

As he opened the hatch, a thought occurred to him.

"Wait a minute...How could he kill four Wraith with a BB gun?"

Rodney decided to chalk that one up as one of life's mysteries.

**Secret Russian Facility, 300 miles north of Yakutsk, Siberia**

**September 2****nd**** 2012, 12 noon**

"_This isn't working!" John screamed at Jack._

"_Tell me about it Sheppard…This is starting to hurt my head a LOT!"_

Right now both Chair Operatives were cursing the decision to lower Atlantis to the bottom of San Francisco Bay. It had been an expensive feat of engineering that had heavily impacted shipping activities across the bay area, but the IOA had been convinced that the best thing to do would be to use Asgard know-how to build a 1300-foot deep pit in the bay and park Atlantis at the bottom. The use of forceshields, and topping the area with a thin layer of silt would mask the city.

It had taken most of Atlantis' ZPM's energy to envelop the entire city in an Asgard beam, and put the city in the pit, and it had left Atlantis almost unusable.

Now the city was being remotely powered from the other side of the world, and they needed it on the surface as quickly as possible.

"_Where's McKay?" Jack asked._

"_He should be in a Jumper somewhere."_

As if hearing Jack's idea, the Chair's quickly pinpointed Rodney by remotely connecting to the HUD of all the Jumpers in Earth's vicinity.

"Wow!" Jack and John proclaimed in unison.

"_I had no idea the chair could do that, sir."_

"_I know," responded Jack._

John looked over to Markov. "We need one of our scientists here – Dr. McKay. We've found him, so can you beam him here if we give you co-ordinates?"

"Does it have to be McKay?" Said Markov with a wilting look, "I can't stand that little man."

"That man is my friend," John said with as much conviction as he could muster. Markov didn't need to know that it had been the best part of three years since they'd even talked.

Jack, sitting in the Atlantis chair however, was aware of his thoughts.

"_I thought you two were 'besties'!" He proclaimed._

John ignored his senior officer's comment, continuing his conversation with Markov.

"McKay's our best scientist, and his co-ordinates should be on a display up there," he pointed to a display that he'd willed to appear above the chair, "Get him here now."

**Glasgow, Scotland, Britain**

**September 2****nd**** 2012, 4.15am**

"Damn it!" Rodney said, hitting the front console of the Jumper, "Why aren't you fixable? I'm a sitting duck down here!"

Rodney tried his radio again to see if there was anything coming through. After quickly checking the F-302/Jumper's open frequency and then going through FM bands, it was apparent that there was no radio signals getting through at all.

"That's it," he said, jumping to his feet, "If you're not fixable, and the SGC's not contactable, then I'm just going to need to go and shoot some Wraith."

He retrieved the P90 and took a step towards the back hatch, when he felt the familiar tingle of an Asgard transporter.

**Secret Russian Facility, 300 miles north of Yakutsk, Siberia**

**September 2****nd**** 2012, 12.15pm**

Seconds later, the beam of light that obscured Rodney's sight dissipated, giving him a clear view of where he now stood.

"A control chair, and Sheppard?"

"Welcome back to Siberia McKay," he smiled at his former friend, "Markov and I need some help."

"Markov?"

"Hello Rodney," said Markov, appearing from behind him, "You've lost more hair since I last saw you," she smirked.

"Oh thank you Svetlana," he glared at her, walking forward to the control platform, "I won't even ask where you got this chair from, but what's the plan?"

"How do you know we've got a plan?" John asked him.

"I just got shot out of the sky by a Wraith while you've been down here mister. You damn well better have a plan."

"We do," said Markov, stepping into Rodney's personal space, "And Sheppard says we need your expertise."

"Oh, fine."

"_What happened between McKay and Markov?" _Jack asked Sheppard who'd been watching the scientist's interactions with interest.

"_No idea sir, but you'll find out when I do."_

"What's the plan Sheppard?"

"Well right now this Chair and I appear to be linked to the Atlantis Chair, which is being operated by General O'Neill. By extension of that, I'm connected psychically to the General too."

"What? Seriously? Isn't that freaking you out?"

"O'Neill says if we don't get to work soon he's going to make sure you get Lemon Chicken next time you're at the SGC."

"_I did not!" Jack protested._

"Fine…What's the plan?"

"The Atlantis Chair has virtually no power, but as long as both chairs are being operated simultaneously, the energy from this chair seems to be getting channelled to it. And no – we don't know how that's possible."

Markov jumped in, "Unfortunately we cannot maintain the energy flow that's needed to rise the city from San Francisco Bay. What we need to do is raise the city, and then co-ordinate drone strikes between both platforms."

"Sounds like a plan," said McKay, "I don't quite know how this is all working, but I've got an idea about the transfer of energy, and how we can keep the flow rate of energy at a sufficient level…Who's helping at O'Neill's end?"

"Radek and Chuck."

"Good. Can the General hear me through you?"

"_Yes!"_

"He says he can."

"Okay, General, tell Zelenka that-"

"_Wait wait!" _Jack shouted, and all of a sudden a holographic display popped up on the screen. The display seemed to show what O'Neill could see.

"_Tell Zelenka yourself!" _Rodney heard Jack say.

Seconds later Radek appeared on the 'screen'.

"_Rodney!"_

"Radek! Is there anyone in Atlantis' ZedPM room?"

"_Not yet, but Chuck can go look."_

"Okay Chuck, I need you to listen carefully. Take a laptop with an Atlantis Tech Interface along to the ZedPM room. On the main platform, directly facing the door, is a small panel. Remove it's cover and look for a small control crystal. It's one of the few systems in the city that utilises an old-style control crystal. Get a reading from the crystal, and take a note of it down to at the very least the tenth decimal place, more if you can."

"_I'll be back in two minutes,"_ Chuck said, picking up a laptop and heading for the ZPM room.

"_What are you thinking Rodney?" asked Radek._

"This chair's power source is in it's platform. In Atlantis the ZPM is obviously in the ZPM room, meaning that the interfaces are not identical. If Chuck can get the interface frequency from the Atlantis ZPM control crystal, I can replicate that here and power transfer should cease to be a problem."

A few minutes later, Chuck appeared, reading out the crystal frequency.

"_Rodney! The frequency is: 42.47891224642."_

"Got it, thanks."

Rodney lunged for a nearby laptop, and brought up the Russians' interface program. "Aha! They're not matched, but we can change that with the click of a button…and a little typing."

John, Jack, Markov, Chuck and Radek were on tenterhooks as Rodney manipulated the interface frequency of the Russian ZPM. As he finished the alignment, Sheppard let him know.

"Wow!"

"_You could say!" _Jack concurred.

"What is it?"

"It's like I've just put on a pair of glasses! I have full access to the Atlantis chair now!"

"_And vice versa!" _Said Jack.

"Okay, well that's good. We really don't have time to test this out, so we need to do the power transfer now, and get Atlantis back to the surface."

Chuck took that as a cue, _"I'll alert the control room."_

* * *

Minutes later as he emerged from a transporter near the Gate Room, he felt the familiar, ominous shuddering that indicated that the Great City of the Ancients was on the move. He sprinted up the steps to the control room to be met by the very concerned faces of Miko, Jeannie and Kavanagh.

"Chuck!" Miko said, "What is it?"

"The city's moving!"

* * *

Rodney sat on the base of the Russian Chair, hoping that John would give them a hint as to whether or not the transfer had worked.

He didn't need to wait long before John spoke.

"Jack says it's working…Atlantis is rising!"

Rodney looked at his former friend's grin, and allowed himself a small smile.

Now the real battle for Earth could begin…


End file.
